Perspectives

The past few months have brought an incredible period of growth through personal and professional experiences. While not my normal topics of interoperability and competencies, I wanted to distill learnings on this blog in hopes that others may find commonalities and encouragement.

Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura

A couple of months ago we received a diagnosis of my oldest daughter (4 years old) called Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP).

Basically it’s low platelet levels for an unknown reason. Her index was at 6 where normal is 150, so the risk of internal bleeding was high if she was to get hit in the head/fall etc. And sure enough, in the first two weeks we went to the hospital/ER/called 911 for spontaneous bleeding that wouldn’t stop etc four times. It was definitely the scariest time period I’ve had as a parent.

Work Challenges

During all of that, there were significant changes happening at work related to the team I lead developing OpenSALT. A good job is always a mix of challenging and rewarding, but lately it’s leaned more on the challenging side. My work colleagues were very helpful during this time period in particular and picked up the slack for me as much as possible and my manager was extraordinarily helpful and forceful in telling me things like, “I understand you’ve been waiting in the ER for 3 hours already, but that email can wait.” It’s amazing how when you’re dealing with someone for your family, you learn to prioritize work…